The desire to reduce automotive fuel consumption and emissions is well documented. Therefore, vehicles are being developed that reduce or completely eliminate reliance on internal combustion engines. Electrified vehicles are currently being developed for this purpose. In general, electrified vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles because they are selectively driven by one or more battery powered electric machines. Conventional motor vehicles, by contrast, rely exclusively on the internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle.
A charging system typically connects an electrified vehicle to an external power source, such as a wall outlet or a charging station, for charging the battery pack of the vehicle. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles, for example, include a vehicle inlet assembly having ports for receiving a connector from the charging station.
An electrified vehicle user may encounter situations in which he/she arrives at a public charging station that is already being used by another electrified vehicle user. It may be desirable for the electrified vehicle user to ascertain whether the other vehicle has either completed charging or received a sufficient amount of charge to permit the connector to be unplugged from the vehicle and then connected to the user's own vehicle for charging. Electrified vehicle users may also wish to ascertain the charging status at a particular charging station prior to their arrival at the charging station. There are currently no known solutions to these problems. Improvements are therefore desired in the field of electrified vehicle charging.